Gambling

GregAge: 50’sLocation: North CarolinaAddiction: Morphine, Internet scamsWhat’s memorable: What an awesome and respectable southern family man he was before the addiction took hold, so in love with his home and his wife and kids. How shockingly gullible he is with the internet scams, to the point of bankrupting his family. $600,000 and counting! I really had no idea ANYONE ever fell for advance-fee scams, but he is fully invested in that craziness. He seriously believes he’s going to get that money. It’s people like Greg that keep those Prince of Nigeria emails coming into my inbox. The conversation with “Mr. Washington” trying to get Greg’s pin number is just brutal to listen to. “It’s hard to believe that all of them are liars.” Yeah, it is, but they are. #Capitalism. I don’t think Greg would be believing any of their crap if he wasn’t on morphine.

Official Synopsis: Greg once owned a thriving business and was a devoted husband and father. But after a back injury left him disabled, he lost his business, started gambling, and became dependent on pain medication. He also became obsessed with Internet sweepstakes scams, and he has bankrupted his family in a relentless pursuit of big winnings. Having lost everything, Greg’s family just wants their proud father back.

GinaAge: 26Location: Las Vegas, NevadaAddiction: Meth, gamblingWhat’s memorable: What goes on in the shadows of Las Vegas. The 10-hours a day gambling and the things she’ll do to get money for it. How much she’s lost. The grueling intervention.

Official synopsis: Gina is bright, fun-loving, and ambitious, but she’s losing a difficult battle with drugs and compulsive gambling. Gina’s family feels an intervention is the only way to save her.

Official synopsis: Eddie, an All-American baseball player in college with offers to play in the majors, was pursuing two master’s degrees but school pressure and his father’s overbearing expectations pushed Eddie to drink and gamble heavily. His addictions have left him divorced, homeless, and in legal trouble due to five DUI charges. Can an intervention save this once perfect son and hometown hero from self-destruction?

AlissaAge: 24Location: MichiganAddicted to: GamblingAddiction Trigger: Accident caused facial disfigurement.What’s memorable: Lives off of her boyfriend, doesn’t work, just loses at gambling day after day in hopes of hitting a jackpot.

Official synopsis: Alissa’s parents and friends try to save her from her gambling addiction. She has lost over $30,000 on 25-cent slots. Her boyfriend has three jobs and makes all of the money, while Alissa gambles it away.

TinaAge: 30’sLocation: Columbus, OhioAddicted to: Gambling, VicodinWhat’s memorable: The immediate regret after gambling and buying pills, betting at the horse trackswith her toddler son following her around.

Official synopsis: Once a valedictorian, Tina is now a real-life desperate housewife. This mother of a three-year-old spends her days gambling her house and car payments while stoned on prescription pills. With most of her jewelry in pawn shops, and forced to take paycheck advances, Tina now writes insurance policies from home and spends her days at horse tracks and in Bingo halls. With her marriage, health and finances in complete crisis her husband Harley says that “this show may be the only thing left that can save our lives.”Original Air Date: May 2005